It may recycle old tech, but this TV still teaches newer rivals a thing or two

Our Verdict

For

Multitude of features

Fantastic pictures

Competitive price

Against

Some tiny picture niggles

First of all, check out the price tag - a supremely affordable £600.

And nestling amongst the Philips 32PFL7762D's cute retro design are no less than three HDMI sockets - all built to the latest v1.3 standard for Deep Colour compatibility too. This TV really is going beyond the budget flatscreen call of duty.

There's no D-Sub PC connection, but the three HDMIs are configured for PC or video use, so most should be able to get all their necessary gear hooked up OK.

Low price LCD

As with most of today's 32in LCD TVs, the 32PFL7762D carries a native resolution of 1366 x 768. But rather more unusual is its support for the 1080p/24 format available from most Blu-ray players.

Despite its low price, the 32PFL7762D also provides you with a dynamic backlight system that helps the TV claim a high 12,000:1 contrast ratio. Then, of course, there's Pixel Plus 2 HD.

Designed to boost detail in a picture as well as colour uniformity while also reducing video noise, Pixel Plus 2 HD processing was once state of the art. But now that this processing engine is a good two to three year's old, surely it's starting to look a bit long in the tooth?

Evidently not. This older tech shouldn't be put out to pasture just quite yet, not if this 32-incher's generally impressive pictures are anything to go by.

Picture greatness

Admittedly, there's occasionally a slightly gritty feel to its pictures and the processing sporadically over-stresses sharp edges so that they stand out from the rest of the picture, these little negatives are in the company of greatness.

So much greatness, in fact, that this TV outperforms practically all of its similarly priced competition. Blimey.

First up, is spectacular picture sharpness with standard and high definition material alike.

During our test Blu-ray movie of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, you can actually see the texture in the floor, the weave in Harry's dodgy outfit, and every strand of Dumbledore's beard.

Great with high definition

It's exceptional stuff for £600, and what's more, the extra sharpness isn't accompanied by any serious processing side effects.

The 32PFL7762D's pictures also enjoy surprisingly deft colour blends and predominantly natural tones - some compensation for the fact that the set's colours aren't especially vibrant.

Black levels look much more profound than is usually common for this price - the dark backdrop to the aforementioned trial sequence is not bogged down too much by LCD's traditional grey murk.

The bargain of the year

Finally, the 32PFL7762D blurs less than most affordable LCDs when handling action sequences like the opening Dementor attack, and even manages to partner its largely excellent pictures with some surprisingly potent audio helped out by a subwoofer on the TV's rear.

Far from being a figure of ridicule with its older processing tech, the 32PFL7762D has ended up looking like one of the bargains of the year so far. You'd better get your skates on to bag one.